Difference between revisions of "ARG"

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{{stub}}
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[[File:Unknownweapon.png|right|200px]]
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On June 19, 2012 TF2 was updated with no patch notes. This led to the start of an '''{{W|Alternate Reality Game}}''' ('''ARG''').
+
{{Quotation|'''The Scout''' attempting to solve puzzles|'Kay, this does not look good here, um...|sound=Scout_negativevocalization05.wav}}
  
−
== Day 1 ==
+
An '''[[w:Alternate Reality Game|Alternate Reality Game]]''' ('''ARG''') is an interactive event that has some portion in the real world and may be influenced by its participants.
−
In the {{Patch name|6|19|2012}} the following craft items were added to the drop system: [[Goldfish]], [[Pocket Lint]], [[Cheese Wheel]], [[Banana Peel]], [[Barn Door Plank]], [[Secret Diary]], and [[Damaged Capacitor]]. They dropped alongside every item drop except for [[crates]].
 
  
−
== Day 2 ==
+
== Grordbort's rockets ==
−
The following day, the {{Patch name|6|20|2012}} was released. With this update, any player who equipped the [[Eliminating The Impossible]] set would now see new descriptions for the previously added items. The new descriptions would have several random characters replaced by periods, resulting in slightly different strings for each player.
+
{{Main|Grordbort's rockets}}
 +
From July 18, 2011 to December 15, 2011, [[Grordbort's rockets|crashed rockets]] appeared on three maps as a promotional ARG for release of items developed in partnership with the [[Weta Workshop]], including the {{update link|Dr. Grordbort's Victory Pack Update}} and {{update link|Australian Christmas 2011}}. Players could explore the crashes with [[Team#Spectate|Spectate]].
 +
 
 +
== Pyromania{{anchor|1}} ==
 +
 
 +
=== Day 1 ===
 +
On June 19, 2012, TF2 was updated with no official patch notes. In the {{Patch name|6|19|2012}} itself, however, the following craft items were added to the drop system: {{item link|Goldfish}}, {{item link|Pocket Lint}}, {{item link|Cheese Wheel}}, {{item link|Banana Peel}}, {{item link|Barn Door Plank}}, {{item link|Secret Diary}} and {{item link|Damaged Capacitor}}. They dropped alongside every item drop except for [[Mann Co. Supply Crate|crates]].
 +
 
 +
=== Day 2 ===
 +
The following day, the {{Patch name|6|20|2012}} was released. Following this update, any player who equipped the [[Eliminating The Impossible]] set would now see new descriptions for the previously added items. The new descriptions would have several random characters replaced by periods, resulting in slightly different strings for each player.
  
 
{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="2" style="text-align:center;"
 
{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="2" style="text-align:center;"
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|-
 
|-
 
|}
 
|}
−
 
  
 
Stitching these phrases together produces the following quote:
 
Stitching these phrases together produces the following quote:
−
{{Quotation|“The Adventure of the Copper Beeches”, a Sherlock Holmes story|Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.}}
+
{{Quotation|"The Adventure of the Copper Beeches," a Sherlock Holmes story|Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.}}
−
 
 
−
== Day 3 ==
 
−
[[File:Banana Peel Craft Error Message.png|300px|right|The error message received when crafting two Banana Peels together.]]
 
  
−
An [[item schema]] [http://git.optf2.com/schema-tracking/commit/?h=teamfortress2&id=338046be3b50d69b0eeb403112d10bf67814e5d6 update] added new records to the Eliminating The Impossible set attribute, consisting of 8 {{W|MD5}} hash strings:
+
=== Day 3 ===
 +
An update to the [[item schema]] added new records to the Eliminating The Impossible set attribute, consisting of 8 [[w:MD5|MD5]] hash strings:
  
 
{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="2"  
 
{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="2"  
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|}
 
|}
  
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The {{Patch name|6|21|2012}} added the ability to craft two or more [[Banana Peel]]s together. This resulted in an error message; its header detailing a "Banana Error # (1-8)". The body of the message is in Spanish followed by Finnish roughly translated as "Banana Overflow Error; Detailed Report:". A numbered code follows comprised of a string of {{W|hexadecimal}} sequences. The sequences vary from player to player even among messages with the same Banana Error number. The dismiss button is replaced with its equivalent in Welsh. Crafting the items does not result in the loss of them, and any further attempts to craft them will result in the same error message.
+
The {{Patch name|6|21|2012}} added the ability to craft two or more [[Banana Peel]]s together. This resulted in an error message; its header detailing a "Banana Error # (1-8)". The body of the message is in Spanish followed by Finnish roughly translated as "Banana Overflow Error; Detailed Report:". A numbered code follows comprised of a string of [[w:Hexadecimal|hexadecimal]] sequences. The sequences vary from player to player even among messages with the same Banana Error number. The dismiss button is replaced with its equivalent in Welsh. Crafting the items does not result in the loss of them, and any further attempts to craft them will result in the same error message.
 +
 
 +
<gallery>
 +
File:Banana Peel Craft Error Message.png|An example of an error message received when crafting two Banana Peels together
 +
</gallery>
  
−
[[File:Saxton_Hale_Hearing_Transcript.jpg|The final stitched image from the images linked to by the QR codes|thumb|right]]
+
Several communities began collecting the unique error codes and sites and piecing the data together. It was discovered that the 8 error codes correspond to 8 different [[w:PNG|PNG]] images, with the hexadecimal codes corresponding to data chunks of the resulting image. The MD5 hash strings served to act as [[w:Checksums|checksums]] for verifying the images are assembled correctly. The resulting images produce [[w:QR codes|QR codes]] that linked to images on the [[TF2 Official Website]]; there are only seven such images as the codes produced by PNG images 7 and 8 are the same and link to the same page. The images contain sections of a transcript, divided vertically. The completed transcript contains an excerpt of a U.S. Senate hearing featuring [[Saxton Hale]] over the death of [[Non-player characters#Poopy Joe|Poopy Joe]] and Saxton Hale's involvement with it as well as the disappearance of the entire United States supply of [[Australium]].
−
Several communities, such as [http://xkeeper.net/private/portal/tf2.php this one], began collecting the unique error codes and sites and piecing the data together. It was discovered that the 8 error codes correspond to 8 different {{W|PNG}} images, with the hexadecimal codes corresponding to data chunks of the resulting image. The MD5 hash strings served to act as {{W|checksums}} for verifying the images are assembled correctly. The resulting images produce {{W|QR codes}} that linked to images on the [[TF2 Official Website]]; there are only seven such images as the codes produced by PNG images 7 and 8 are the same and link to the same page. The images contain sections of a transcript, divided vertically. When they are all combined, the transcript is apparently an excerpt of a U.S. Senate hearing featuring [[Saxton Hale]] over the death of [[Poopy Joe]] and Saxton Hale's involvement with it as well as the disappearance of the entire United States supply of [[Australium]].
+
<gallery>
 +
File:Saxton Hale Hearing Transcript.jpg|The final stitched image from the images linked to by the QR codes
 +
</gallery>
  
−
=== QR codes ===
+
==== QR codes ====
 
{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="2" style="text-align:center;"
 
{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="2" style="text-align:center;"
 
|- style="height: 20px;"
 
|- style="height: 20px;"
Line 89: Line 100:
 
|| 1
 
|| 1
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 1.png|100px]]
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 1.png|100px]]
−
|| [http://tf2.com/tn125a5ym6sn.jpg Link]
+
|| [https://teamfortress.com/tn125a5ym6sn.jpg Link]
 
|-
 
|-
 
|| 2
 
|| 2
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 2.png|100px]]
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 2.png|100px]]
−
|| [http://tf2.com/9rpragt86n3p.jpg Link]
+
|| [https://teamfortress.com/9rpragt86n3p.jpg Link]
 
|-
 
|-
 
|| 3
 
|| 3
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 3.png|100px]]
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 3.png|100px]]
−
|| [http://tf2.com/dfqiqq3jjbv6.jpg Link]
+
|| [https://teamfortress.com/dfqiqq3jjbv6.jpg Link]
 
|-
 
|-
 
|| 4
 
|| 4
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 4.png|100px]]
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 4.png|100px]]
−
|| [http://tf2.com/h5r1bxdt9sg1.jpg Link]
+
|| [https://teamfortress.com/h5r1bxdt9sg1.jpg Link]
 
|-
 
|-
 
|| 5
 
|| 5
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 5.png|100px]]
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 5.png|100px]]
−
|| [http://tf2.com/w8cs1ednpphy.jpg Link]
+
|| [https://teamfortress.com/w8cs1ednpphy.jpg Link]
 
|-
 
|-
 
|| 6
 
|| 6
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 6.png|100px]]
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 6.png|100px]]
−
|| [http://tf2.com/42jv1wiiacu6.jpg Link]
+
|| [https://teamfortress.com/42jv1wiiacu6.jpg Link]
 
|-
 
|-
 
|| 7
 
|| 7
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 7.png|100px]]
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 7.png|100px]]
−
|| [http://tf2.com/cajtaypvdbyl.jpg Link]
+
|| [https://teamfortress.com/cajtaypvdbyl.jpg Link]
 
|-
 
|-
 
|| 8
 
|| 8
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 8.png|100px]]
 
|| [[File:ARG QR Code 8.png|100px]]
−
|| [http://tf2.com/cajtaypvdbyl.jpg Link]
+
|| [https://teamfortress.com/cajtaypvdbyl.jpg Link]
 
|-
 
|-
 
|}
 
|}
  
−
== Day 4 ==
+
=== Day 4 ===
−
On 22 June 2012, 15:00 PDT, a mysterious [[TF2 Official Website#Blog|blog post]]<ref>[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=8256 June 22, 2012 - Mmm Mmmph!]</ref> was written by the [[Pyro]]. This corresponds to the text on the [[Damaged Capacitor]] which reads '6.22V1500', giving a time and date of 6/22/12 15:00 PDT (the time zone in which Valve reside). The post reads:
+
On 22 June 2012, 15:00 PDT, a mysterious [[TF2 Official Website#Blog|blog post]]<ref>[https://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=8256 June 22, 2012 - Mmm Mmmph!]</ref> was written by the {{cl|Pyro}}. This corresponds to the text on the [[Damaged Capacitor]] which reads '6.22V1500', giving a time and date of 6/22/12 15:00 PDT (the time zone in which Valve resides). The post reads:
  
 
  "Mmmmph mmmmph, mmmmm mmmmmp mmmmmph. Mmmmmph mpm!  
 
  "Mmmmph mmmmph, mmmmm mmmmmp mmmmmph. Mmmmmph mpm!  
 
   Mmmmmph mph mm! Hm mmmmmph, hmmmmph mm mmmmmph mmmmmph!"
 
   Mmmmmph mph mm! Hm mmmmmph, hmmmmph mm mmmmmph mmmmmph!"
  
−
Replacing the long words with dashes and the short words with dots results in the {{W|Morse code}} <tt>–– ––– –• –•• •– –•––</tt>, which translates to 'Monday'.
+
Replacing the long words with dashes and the short words with dots reveals a message in [[w:Morse code|Morse code]].
 +
  <tt>–– ––– –• –•• •– –•––</tt>
 +
  M  O  N  D  A  Y
 +
The following Monday, the Pyromania Update was announced.
 +
 
 +
''Note: The {{Patch name|6|27|2012}} incinerated the [[Mysterious Treasures]] into piles of Ash with the exception of the renamed [[Barely-Melted Capacitor]] and the [[Fireproof Secret Diary]] which retained their appearance. The {{Patch name|7|11|2012}} removed the Ash, again skipping over the Diary and the Capacitor.
 +
 
 +
== Mann vs. Machine{{anchor|2|Second ARG}} ==
 +
{{See also|Mann vs. Machine (update)#Pre-announcement references|l1=MvM Pre-announcement references}}
 +
 
 +
=== Day 1===
 +
[[Image:1st Blood Spot.png|500px|thumb|right|The TF2 website as it appeared with the blood spot]]
 +
On August 10, 2012, a bloodstain appeared on the site logo on the [[TF2 Official Website#blog|TF2 blog]], which led to a [https://www.teamfortress.com/gray hidden page] containing the birth certificate of the previously unknown third Mann brother, [[Gray Mann]]. It is stated that he absconded with the unknown entity 'EAGLE'.
 +
 
 +
<gallery>
 +
File:Blog Birth Certificate.jpg|Birth certificate accessed from the link
 +
</gallery>
 +
 
 +
The {{Patch name|8|10|2012}} added [[Carrier Tank]]s to {{map link|2Fort}}, {{map link|Badwater Basin}}, {{map link|Double Cross}} and {{map link|Granary (Control Point)}}. They can be seen in the distance standing motionless.
 +
 
 +
=== Day 2 ===
 +
[[Image:Second Blood Spot.png|500px|thumb|right|The appearance of the second blood spot]]
 +
On August 11, 2012, a second bloodstain appeared on the site logo, this time leading to a [https://www.teamfortress.com/mannwill hidden page] containing the now fully revealed the [[The Last Will and Testament of Zepheniah Mann|Last Will of Zepheniah Mann]]. The missing lines disclose that he was being blackmailed by his son Gray and, in response, Zepheniah left [[Elizabeth]] his hidden cache of 'miracle' gravel.
 +
 
 +
<gallery>
 +
File:ZepheniahMannLastWill.jpg|The unobscured Last Will and Testament of Zepheniah Mann
 +
File:The Last Will and Testament of Zepheniah Mann aka Issue 97.jpg|The previously obscured will introduced during the 2009 [[Haunted Hallowe'en Special]]
 +
</gallery>
 +
 
 +
In the {{Patch name|8|11|2012}}, the [[Barely-Melted Capacitor]] was updated to be equippable and several class-specific hashes were added to the [[item schema]].
 +
 
 +
{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="2"
 +
! class="header" | Record
 +
! class="header" | Value
 +
|-
 +
|scout_md5_314
 +
|40119059ad74854a84f78a102fb6048d
 +
|-
 +
|soldier_md5_516
 +
|5f99cc6e57a84e6c52f6df772196a7ef
 +
|-
 +
|pyro_md5_323
 +
|a8a7188d6911026801eb1a6279d7f0b9
 +
|-
 +
|demo_md5_372
 +
|1c2594a0d12aba24d304487742205f04
 +
|-
 +
|heavy_md5_308
 +
|2eb157506d8ca40c919541741b04d432
 +
|-
 +
|medic_md5_328
 +
|6c5d3d7ea48af4c8ceb8eb801c65de84
 +
|-
 +
|engineer_md5_500
 +
|928b4eba739114893aff40614aa74b17
 +
|-
 +
|sniper_md5_276
 +
|6aa6787bc62adcd3d646164c9b68f026
 +
|-
 +
|spy_md5_65
 +
|5696492788ca11dd2f1eaa9f5294e3d2
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
 
 +
When [[High Five!|high-fiving]] a player who has equipped the Barely-Melted Capacitor, text would be printed to the chat box. Each player could see three unique messages, depending on the other person's class.
 +
 
 +
The text takes the form of this sample output (Text in italics varies from person to person):
 +
 
 +
  ''Medic'' says: Did you hear the story from ''1252'' where ''Destruction PDA, Buzz Killer, Something Special for Someone Special, Ubersaw,''
 +
  ''Cowardly Mound, Crate, Buzz Killer, Frying Pan, and the Administrator'' walked into a bar?
 +
 
 +
The class listed in the text represents a sequence of data that corresponds with one of the MD5 checksums, and the items and characters listed in the text represent a subsequence of that sequence. The number corresponds to the position of the subsequence. The complete list of all jokes can be viewed [http://web.archive.org/web/20130212071501/http://lab.xpaw.ru/tf2arg-part2/submissions.php here]. An in-game example may be seen below.
 +
 
 +
<gallery>
 +
File:ARG Joke.jpg
 +
</gallery>
 +
 
 +
After several communities collected the outputs from high-fiving with a capacitor, the item names were mapped to [[w:Hexadecimal|hex codes]]. It was found that each class's outputs formed various file formats; The Scout, Pyro, Heavy, and Medic corresponded to a [[w:Portable Network Graphics|png]] file, the Soldier to a [[w:BMP file format|bmp]] file, the Demoman to a [[w:Zip (file format)|zip]] file, the Engineer to a text file containing [[w:C++|C++]] code, the Sniper to a [[w:MIDI|MIDI]] file, and the Spy to a link that led to a zip file containing a [[w:KeePass|KeePass]] key file. The image files were [[w:QR code|QR codes]], the zip file contained [[w:ASCII art|ASCII art]], the MIDI contained [[w:Morse code|Morse code]], and the C++ code outputted text. It was found that these words corresponded to hex using the [[w:PGP word list|PGP word list]].
  
−
=== Adult Swim TF2 Promotion ===
+
==== Class Outputs ====
 +
{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="2" style="text-align:center;"
 +
|- style="height: 20px;"
 +
! class="header" | Class
 +
! class="header" | Output
 +
|-
 +
|| Scout
 +
|| [[:File:ARG QR Code 1.png|scout.png]]
 +
|-
 +
|| Soldier
 +
|| [https://web.archive.org/web/20150322064456if_/http://junk.mzzt.net/soldier.png soldier.bmp]<!-- Update with finished bmp -->
 +
|-
 +
|| Pyro
 +
|| [[:File:ARG QR Code 3.png|pyro.png]]
 +
|-
 +
|| Demoman
 +
|| [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lF5K1Qb0yhfmfF68xJklo_arO_VxLhiB/view?usp=drive_link Demoman.zip]
 +
|-
 +
|| Heavy
 +
|| [[:File:ARG QR Code 5.png|heavy.png]]
 +
|-
 +
|| Engineer
 +
|| [https://www.onlinegdb.com/-KJwN5jNI C++ code]
 +
|-
 +
|| Medic
 +
|| [[:File:ARG QR Code 7.png|medic.png]]
 +
|-
 +
|| Sniper
 +
|| [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jYy1mYSdWA8j6o9AW211RJ3ZKCZYSMcv/view?usp=sharing Sniper.mid] <!-- Recovered missing files from Internet Archive (http://web.archive.org/web/20120814172205/http://xkeeper.net/private/portal/tf3.php). There were a few missing hex values which were replaced to get the file to play.-->
 +
|-
 +
|| Spy
 +
|| [https://www.teamfortress.com/tobor/3hzd3ob2wBBeMsmkUW1AHZH78TlgL1UMBVBL07mY.zip Spy.kdbx]
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
 
 +
==== PGP word list mapping ====
 +
{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="2"
 +
! class="header" | Class
 +
! class="header" | Format
 +
! class="header" | PGP Word
 +
! class="header" | Even/Odd
 +
! class="header" | Hex
 +
|-
 +
|Scout
 +
|PNG
 +
|Adult
 +
|Even
 +
|05
 +
|-
 +
|Soldier
 +
|BMP
 +
|Councilman
 +
|Odd
 +
|3B
 +
|-
 +
|Pyro
 +
|PNG
 +
|Baboon
 +
|Even
 +
|14
 +
|-
 +
|Demoman
 +
|ZIP
 +
|Apollo
 +
|Odd
 +
|0A
 +
|-
 +
|Heavy
 +
|PNG
 +
|Goldfish
 +
|Even
 +
|05
 +
|-
 +
|Engineer
 +
|C++ Code
 +
|Resistor
 +
|Odd
 +
|C5
 +
|-
 +
|Medic
 +
|PNG
 +
|Goggles
 +
|Even
 +
|6D
 +
|-
 +
|Sniper
 +
|MIDI
 +
|Unicorn
 +
|Odd
 +
|EC
 +
|-
 +
|Spy
 +
|Keypass Database
 +
|N/A
 +
|N/A
 +
|N/A
 +
|-
 +
|}
  
−
Earlier in the same day, {{W|Adult Swim}} posted [http://www.adultswim.com/promos/valve/ an announcement on their web site] of a promotion with Valve over the course of the next week. The page contains a button to sign up for Adult Swim's email newsletter, which sends a user to a signup page featuring an image of the Pyro.  
+
The password to the Spy's keypass database was the previous class's numeric byte values strung together in order, 053B140A6EC56DEC. The file contained an image of a QR code, which when [[w:XOR|XOR]]-ed with the other QR code images led to [https://www.teamfortress.com/crsk9.jpg this link].  
  
−
== Day 5 ==
+
The link contained an image describing a recipe of 8 items, which, when [[Crafting|crafted]] together, [[:File:Blood Brothers Main Menu Alert.png|caused a system-wide alert in-game]], notifying players that a new comic, [[Blood Brothers]], was available.
−
The next Monday, the [[Pyromania Update]] was announced.<ref>[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=8260 June 25, 2012 - Pyromania Update announcement]</ref>
 
  
−
A page from the Saxton Hale Hearing Transcript was found by clicking on a banana peel at the bottom of the page <ref>[http://www.teamfortress.com/pyromania/thepoopyjoefiles June 25, 2012 - Poopy Joe Files]</ref>. On the Doomsday game mode page, clicking on the monkey reveals the Poopy Joe Wallpaper <ref>[http://media.steampowered.com/apps/tf2/pyromania/poopy_joe_wallpaper.jpg June 25, 2012 - Poopy Joe wallpaper]</ref> and clicking on the logo of MANN CO Monkeynautics reveals another one <ref>[http://media.steampowered.com/apps/tf2/pyromania/monkeynautics_wallpaper.jpg June 25, 2012 - MANN CO Monkeynautics wallpaper]</ref>.
+
In the aforementioned recipe list image, the letters T, O, B, O and R are visibly stained by blood; this forms the word "[[Tobor|TOBOR]]".
 +
There is also a [[Tour of Duty Ticket]] stuck to the back with a paper clip.
  
−
Hidden text "NO<...> Until you watch <...>" appeared on the background image of the Pyromania update page, but was later removed <ref>[http://valvearg.com/tfhunt/File:Landing_bg_02.jpg June 25, 2012 - Hidden text]</ref>.
+
<gallery>
 +
File:Crsk9.jpg|The recipe from ARG 2 Day 2. The letters covered by blood spell [[tobor|"TOBOR"]], "ROBOT" spelled backwards.
 +
File:Blood Brothers Main Menu Alert.png|The system-wide alert from ARG 2 Day 2, in-game. It appeared along with [[Media:BloodBrothersAlarm.wav|this sound]].
 +
File:Blood Brothers Main Menu Alert 2.png|The same text, but from the main menu.
 +
</gallery>
  
−
Viewing the source reveals the Pyromania logo having an "alt" tag of "Happy 25th birthday animated gif!", referring to the introduction of the  
+
=== Day 3 ===
−
{{w|Graphics Interchange Format|.GIF file format}} on June 16th, 1987.
+
On August 12, a [[TF2 Official Website#Blog|blog post]] entitled [https://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=8621 Blood Brothers] went live, announcing that the ARG had been completed. The post said that Valve expected [[Blood Brothers|the comic with the same name]] to be discovered in a couple of weeks, and not twelve hours, as it turned out. A [https://www.teamfortress.com/bloodbrothers/ link] to the comic was also included in the post.  
  
−
== Trivia ==
+
=== Day 4 ===
−
* The QR codes produced from banana errors 7 and 8 are duplicates. This is a reference to the [http://catb.org/jargon/html/B/banana-problem.html banana problem], a variation on the {{W|Off-by-one error}} in programming. This is when a programmer makes a subtle logic error in a loop, resulting in the code looping one time too many or too few.
+
On August 13, the {{update link|Mann vs. Machine (update)}} was officially announced.<ref>[https://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=8622 https://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=8622]</ref>
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
  
 +
{{Pyromania Nav}}
 +
{{Mann Vs Machine Nav}}
 
{{Mysterious Items Nav}}
 
{{Mysterious Items Nav}}

Latest revision as of 05:18, 8 June 2024

Unknownweapon.png
“
'Kay, this does not look good here, um...
Click to listen
— The Scout attempting to solve puzzles
 ”

An Alternate Reality Game (ARG) is an interactive event that has some portion in the real world and may be influenced by its participants.

Grordbort's rockets

Main article: Grordbort's rockets

From July 18, 2011 to December 15, 2011, crashed rockets appeared on three maps as a promotional ARG for release of items developed in partnership with the Weta Workshop, including the Dr. Grordbort's Victory Pack Update and Australian Christmas 2011. Players could explore the crashes with Spectate.

Pyromania

Day 1

On June 19, 2012, TF2 was updated with no official patch notes. In the June 19, 2012 Patch itself, however, the following craft items were added to the drop system: Goldfish, Pocket Lint, Cheese Wheel, Banana Peel, Barn Door Plank, Secret Diary and Damaged Capacitor. They dropped alongside every item drop except for crates.

Day 2

The following day, the June 20, 2012 Patch was released. Following this update, any player who equipped the Eliminating The Impossible set would now see new descriptions for the previously added items. The new descriptions would have several random characters replaced by periods, resulting in slightly different strings for each player.

Item New description
Goldfish
Goldfish 		'Think of the'
Pocket Lint
Pocket Lint 		'...the... which...'
Cheese Wheel
Cheese Wheel 		'may go on... the hidden wickedness...'
Banana Peel
Banana Peel 		'...may go on...'
Barn Door Plank
Barn Door Plank 		'...year in, year out...'
Secret Diary
Secret Diary 		'the deeds of hellish cruelty and none the wiser'
Damaged Capacitor
Damaged Capacitor 		' in such places, and ...'

Stitching these phrases together produces the following quote:

“
Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.
— "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches," a Sherlock Holmes story
 ”

Day 3

An update to the item schema added new records to the Eliminating The Impossible set attribute, consisting of 8 MD5 hash strings:

Record Value
md5_388_1 9e86c9d1ba461d7c3b84ea4bac11b921
md5_388_2 f2629207217ce651f1a76ce33346d4c8
md5_388_3 5d1a66650820b260b043443137c23dc5
md5_388_4 0361ca75733f3c21f4ba4ae216e92155
md5_388_5 a0370078eaafd706e75e6a2a45b5678f
md5_388_6 0a009353adac7c721d8b4a188a9f8517
md5_388_7 6f1d22a53f398fd4404b7fc9d7b1f356
md5_388_8 eae894257e8b1502807a3a94fd2fcc1c

The June 21, 2012 Patch added the ability to craft two or more Banana Peels together. This resulted in an error message; its header detailing a "Banana Error # (1-8)". The body of the message is in Spanish followed by Finnish roughly translated as "Banana Overflow Error; Detailed Report:". A numbered code follows comprised of a string of hexadecimal sequences. The sequences vary from player to player even among messages with the same Banana Error number. The dismiss button is replaced with its equivalent in Welsh. Crafting the items does not result in the loss of them, and any further attempts to craft them will result in the same error message.

  • An example of an error message received when crafting two Banana Peels together

Several communities began collecting the unique error codes and sites and piecing the data together. It was discovered that the 8 error codes correspond to 8 different PNG images, with the hexadecimal codes corresponding to data chunks of the resulting image. The MD5 hash strings served to act as checksums for verifying the images are assembled correctly. The resulting images produce QR codes that linked to images on the TF2 Official Website; there are only seven such images as the codes produced by PNG images 7 and 8 are the same and link to the same page. The images contain sections of a transcript, divided vertically. The completed transcript contains an excerpt of a U.S. Senate hearing featuring Saxton Hale over the death of Poopy Joe and Saxton Hale's involvement with it as well as the disappearance of the entire United States supply of Australium.

  • The final stitched image from the images linked to by the QR codes

QR codes

Error code QR code image Output
1 ARG QR Code 1.png Link
2 ARG QR Code 2.png Link
3 ARG QR Code 3.png Link
4 ARG QR Code 4.png Link
5 ARG QR Code 5.png Link
6 ARG QR Code 6.png Link
7 ARG QR Code 7.png Link
8 ARG QR Code 8.png Link

Day 4

On 22 June 2012, 15:00 PDT, a mysterious blog post[1] was written by the Pyro. This corresponds to the text on the Damaged Capacitor which reads '6.22V1500', giving a time and date of 6/22/12 15:00 PDT (the time zone in which Valve resides). The post reads: 

"Mmmmph mmmmph, mmmmm mmmmmp mmmmmph. Mmmmmph mpm! 
 Mmmmmph mph mm! Hm mmmmmph, hmmmmph mm mmmmmph mmmmmph!"

Replacing the long words with dashes and the short words with dots reveals a message in Morse code. 

 –– –––  –• –•• •– –•––
 M   O   N   D   A   Y

The following Monday, the Pyromania Update was announced.

Note: The June 27, 2012 Patch incinerated the Mysterious Treasures into piles of Ash with the exception of the renamed Barely-Melted Capacitor and the Fireproof Secret Diary which retained their appearance. The July 11, 2012 Patch removed the Ash, again skipping over the Diary and the Capacitor.

Mann vs. Machine

See also: MvM Pre-announcement references

Day 1

The TF2 website as it appeared with the blood spot

On August 10, 2012, a bloodstain appeared on the site logo on the TF2 blog, which led to a hidden page containing the birth certificate of the previously unknown third Mann brother, Gray Mann. It is stated that he absconded with the unknown entity 'EAGLE'.

  • Birth certificate accessed from the link

The August 10, 2012 Patch added Carrier Tanks to 2Fort, Badwater Basin, Double Cross and Granary (Control Point). They can be seen in the distance standing motionless.

Day 2

The appearance of the second blood spot

On August 11, 2012, a second bloodstain appeared on the site logo, this time leading to a hidden page containing the now fully revealed the Last Will of Zepheniah Mann. The missing lines disclose that he was being blackmailed by his son Gray and, in response, Zepheniah left Elizabeth his hidden cache of 'miracle' gravel.

  • The unobscured Last Will and Testament of Zepheniah Mann

  • The previously obscured will introduced during the 2009 Haunted Hallowe'en Special

In the August 11, 2012 Patch, the Barely-Melted Capacitor was updated to be equippable and several class-specific hashes were added to the item schema.

Record Value
scout_md5_314 40119059ad74854a84f78a102fb6048d
soldier_md5_516 5f99cc6e57a84e6c52f6df772196a7ef
pyro_md5_323 a8a7188d6911026801eb1a6279d7f0b9
demo_md5_372 1c2594a0d12aba24d304487742205f04
heavy_md5_308 2eb157506d8ca40c919541741b04d432
medic_md5_328 6c5d3d7ea48af4c8ceb8eb801c65de84
engineer_md5_500 928b4eba739114893aff40614aa74b17
sniper_md5_276 6aa6787bc62adcd3d646164c9b68f026
spy_md5_65 5696492788ca11dd2f1eaa9f5294e3d2

When high-fiving a player who has equipped the Barely-Melted Capacitor, text would be printed to the chat box. Each player could see three unique messages, depending on the other person's class.

The text takes the form of this sample output (Text in italics varies from person to person): 

 Medic says: Did you hear the story from 1252 where Destruction PDA, Buzz Killer, Something Special for Someone Special, Ubersaw,
 Cowardly Mound, Crate, Buzz Killer, Frying Pan, and the Administrator walked into a bar?

The class listed in the text represents a sequence of data that corresponds with one of the MD5 checksums, and the items and characters listed in the text represent a subsequence of that sequence. The number corresponds to the position of the subsequence. The complete list of all jokes can be viewed here. An in-game example may be seen below.

  • ARG Joke.jpg

After several communities collected the outputs from high-fiving with a capacitor, the item names were mapped to hex codes. It was found that each class's outputs formed various file formats; The Scout, Pyro, Heavy, and Medic corresponded to a png file, the Soldier to a bmp file, the Demoman to a zip file, the Engineer to a text file containing C++ code, the Sniper to a MIDI file, and the Spy to a link that led to a zip file containing a KeePass key file. The image files were QR codes, the zip file contained ASCII art, the MIDI contained Morse code, and the C++ code outputted text. It was found that these words corresponded to hex using the PGP word list.

Class Outputs

Class Output
Scout scout.png
Soldier soldier.bmp
Pyro pyro.png
Demoman Demoman.zip
Heavy heavy.png
Engineer C++ code
Medic medic.png
Sniper Sniper.mid
Spy Spy.kdbx

PGP word list mapping

Class Format PGP Word Even/Odd Hex
Scout PNG Adult Even 05
Soldier BMP Councilman Odd 3B
Pyro PNG Baboon Even 14
Demoman ZIP Apollo Odd 0A
Heavy PNG Goldfish Even 05
Engineer C++ Code Resistor Odd C5
Medic PNG Goggles Even 6D
Sniper MIDI Unicorn Odd EC
Spy Keypass Database N/A N/A N/A

The password to the Spy's keypass database was the previous class's numeric byte values strung together in order, 053B140A6EC56DEC. The file contained an image of a QR code, which when XOR-ed with the other QR code images led to this link.

The link contained an image describing a recipe of 8 items, which, when crafted together, caused a system-wide alert in-game, notifying players that a new comic, Blood Brothers, was available.

In the aforementioned recipe list image, the letters T, O, B, O and R are visibly stained by blood; this forms the word "TOBOR". There is also a Tour of Duty Ticket stuck to the back with a paper clip.

  • The recipe from ARG 2 Day 2. The letters covered by blood spell "TOBOR", "ROBOT" spelled backwards.

  • The system-wide alert from ARG 2 Day 2, in-game. It appeared along with this sound.

  • The same text, but from the main menu.

Day 3

On August 12, a blog post entitled Blood Brothers went live, announcing that the ARG had been completed. The post said that Valve expected the comic with the same name to be discovered in a couple of weeks, and not twelve hours, as it turned out. A link to the comic was also included in the post.

Day 4

On August 13, the Mann vs. Machine Update was officially announced.[2]

References

  1. ↑ June 22, 2012 - Mmm Mmmph!
  2. ↑ https://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=8622
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